Video Tutorial: Dark Wood paint effect

In today’s post, as part of the Adventures in Acrylics workshop, I’ll be sharing a tutorial on how to create a wonderful dark wood paint effect. It looks something like rosewood, or perhaps mahogany, but whatever you want to call it, this gives a beautiful effect. Like the previous tutorial, this is super simple to create and waiting for the paint to dry between layers, is the most time-consuming part.

You Will Need

Method

I’ll include a written description of the process, for those who don’t speak English, there’s always the trusty translator, check out the TRANSLATE THIS SITE link, in the side bar.

Put some Buff Titanium on the palette, than use the palette knife to apply a layer paint over the white surface of the mount board. Apply the paint generously, as if you were buttering bread ;) Change direction with your knife and leave a few white areas here and there. Allow this layer to dry fully, before you move on.

Clean your knife in the water, while you wait for the paint to dry.

Next, put out some Burnt Sienna onto your palette, pick up some paint on the knife and apply the Burnt Sienna in patches, here and there over the Titanium Buff. Change direction when applying the paint to create textures. Leave some of the white areas and some areas of the buff titanium visible. Allow this layer to dry fully, before you move on.

Clean your knife in the water, while you wait for the paint to dry.

Put some Burnt Umber onto your palette, this is a semi transparent colour and will allow the other layers to be seen through it. Pick up a generous amount of Burnt Umber onto your knife. You only need a thin-film of the paint over the card, but the knife will move better over the card if it has a layer of paint across it. Apply a thin layer of the Burnt Umber over the whole piece and allow this to dry. Try not to go over this layer too many times as it tends to get sticky as its drying and if you want a smooth result you don’t want to over work it. Allow this layer to fully dry before you move on.

Clean your knife in the water, while you wait for the paint to dry.

If you feel your piece is looking too bright apply a second layer of the Burnt Umber over the card, either just in places or over the whole thing, depending on the look you are going for.

Dark Wood paint effect for Adventures in Acrylics

The earlier layers glow through the semi transparent Burnt Umber, and add lots of visual interest and texture to the piece. Like the weathered wood, you can make this more textured by using heavy bodied acrylic paint like Daler Rowney Cryla if you prefer or use mediums to change how your Galeria paint behaves. This original version is reasonably smooth so if you wanted to stamp or write over the surface you could do so. It would also take image transfers if you wanted to add some.

Options/Added Extras

In the coming weeks/months I’ll be introducing you to some acrylic mediums. As well as mixing the mediums to your paints, you can also use some of them as a glazing layer. If you already have some, you could paint over the finished piece with matt or gloss medium.

The matt medium will not change the appearance of the finished piece, but it will seal in and protect the layers of paint.

The gloss medium will dry to a high shine, and make the piece look as if it has been polished.

Experiment with what you have and see which you prefer. You don’t have to add the glaze layer, but it will help seal the paint in.

Links

Check out the Art tab at the top of the blog for details of suppliers where you can find a local stockist and also colour charts for the paints I’m using.

Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and will give the technique a try, it is simple to do and by varying your colours or how you apply the paint, there are plenty of opportunities for further experiment with this idea. I’d love to see your results and how you incorporate this technique into your own projects. Do leave me comment with a link to what you create.

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Billie :)

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